Notorious Vancouver gangster released on bail after new charges laid along, whose

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Notorious Vancouver gangster released on bail after new charges laid
Mike Adiwal is accused of extortion with a firearm, uttering death threats and assault along with Preetpal Sangha


VANCOUVER -- A notorious gangster whose twin survived 26 bullet wounds two years ago has been charged with extortion using a firearm and a number of other offences.

Manjit Singh (Mike) Adiwal was arrested in Chilliwack on May 9 after an investigation headed by Surrey RCMP.

Adiwal, 31, is also charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, uttering death threats and assault. Both he and his co-accused, Preetpal Sangha, 27, were released on bail on May 17, according to Provincial Court online files.

Surrey RCMP did not return phone calls about the case.

Adiwal and his twin Parminder (Peter) have become well known to police across the Lower Mainland for years and were once associates of the late Bindy Johal.

The brothers were also active in the Independent Soldiers gang, but have been lower-profile since Peter was critically wounded in a Burnaby shooting in May 2009. He has made a remarkable recovery after taking shots to his face, torso and foot in an underground parking lot of the highrise in which he was living at the time.

No one has been charged in the targeted hit.

The twins are convicted kidnappers who have associated with leading members of several Metro Vancouver gangs, including the United Nations and the Red Scorpions.

The Adiwals were friends with Anton Hooites-Meursing, who pleaded guilty last year to two counts of first-degree murder in separate gangland slayings.

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Sgt. Shinder Kirk, of the Gang Task Force, said that even when gangsters are off police radar for some time, it doesn’t mean they have cut all their criminal ties.

“It doesn’t mean they have gone away,” Kirk said. “There are always some ties back to their previous activities and their previous associates.”

He said both Mike and Peter Adiwal “have been known to be involved in the general gang environment for many, many years.”

In addition, he said gang specialists will continue “monitoring the trends and being very aware that tensions may surface at any time.”

The Adiwal twins pleaded guilty in October 2005 to a brutal drug-related kidnapping in which the victim was rescued by police who had been following the Adiwals in another multiple-murder investigation.

Peter Adiwal told the kidnapping victim he would kill him and dump his body in Richmond, near the spot where two of the man’s friends had been found bound and shot in 2001.

The twins were among the subjects of a multi-million dollar investigation by the former Indo-Canadian Gang Task Force that involved months of wiretap and surveillance designed to collect evidence in a series of unsolved slayings.

Sukhjit Singh Basi was grabbed late on the evening of Feb. 12, 2003. The investigation ended suddenly and dramatically when police overheard Basi’s moans and cries and broke down the Burnaby apartment door to rescue him.

In a Feb. 11, 2003, conversation captured on a listening device, Peter Adiwal blamed Basi for stealing 68 kilograms of marijuana and then pointing the finger at Adiwal.

Adiwal was heard on the wiretap saying ‘Kick him in the throat’ and when Basi started weeping, Adiwal said, ‘He’s breaking. I told you guys. I told you he’d start crying, didn’t I?”

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Mike Adiwal (right) in an April 2010 photograph with twin brother Peter Adiwal and Anton Hooites-Meursing, who was convicted last year on two counts of first-degree murder. Mike Adiwal was charged with numerous crimes earlier this month and was released on bail on May 17.



Mike Adiwal (right) in an April 2010 photograph with Anton Hooites-Meursing, who was convicted last year on two counts of first-degree murder. Adiwal was charged with numerous crimes earlier this month and was released on bail on May 17.